New
York, December 31, 2012--The New York Times
reported today that one of its correspondents in China, Chris Buckley, has had
to leave the mainland because Chinese authorities have not issued him a visa
for 2013.

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New York, October 29, 2012--Officials
from China's Communist Party should stop censoring and obstructing foreign
journalists in the lead-up to the Party Congress scheduled for November 8, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Information security
is notoriously tight before the five-yearly congress, which is expected to
usher in high-level leadership change in 2012.

Denmark's Prime
Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt is in China this week to meet with top leaders,
according to international news reports. CPJ's Advocacy and Communications
Associate Magnus Ag and Senior Asia Program Researcher Madeline Earp co-wrote
an op-ed calling on Thorning--as she is called in the Danish press--to raise the
issue of press freedom. An edited version ran in the Danish newspaper Politiken today.

Speaking truthfully to China on its repression of human rights can be a tricky endeavor in diplomatic affairs, but Helle Thorning-Schmidt has a prime opportunity to raise press freedom on her trip to China. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not give the issue public priority during their visits earlier this month, but as Thorning meets with top Communist Party leaders and addresses a World Economic Forum meeting in Tianjin, the opportunity must not be wasted.

New York, September 4, 2012--U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
should press Chinese officials in meetings this week to allow international
journalists based in China greater access to news events and fewer restrictions
of their coverage, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

This week, Morgan Marquis-Boire and Bill
Marczak of the University of
Toronto's Citizen Lab provided a disturbing
look into the likely use of a commercial surveillance program, FinFisher,
to remotely invade and control the computers of Bahraini activists. After the
software installs itself onto unsuspecting users' computer, it can record and
relay emails, screenshots, and Skype audio conversations. It was deployed
against Bahraini users after being concealed in seemingly innocent emails.

This
was not an auspicious reaction to the news that Al-Jazeera
English has closed its Beijing bureau after being refused journalist visas.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Hong Lei's responses at today's press
conference did not improve from there, according to a partial transcript
published by Voice of America. His
explanations for the ministry's refusal to renew credentials for the channel's
Beijing correspondent Melissa Chan were a mixture of denial and obfuscation. (Al-Jazeera's
Arabic-language bureau continues to operate with several accredited
journalists, according to The Associated
Press.)

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CPJ has been monitoring and reporting on China's intimidation of journalists. In the latest news development, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied accreditation to Al Jazeera journalist, Melissa Chan, and CPJ responded by urging the government to revoke their decision.